Star Wars Rebels: Starstone
by RebelStarbirdPadawan
Summary: The Ghost crew is on Ryloth after failing to recover Hera's Kalikori. While they are there, they meet a strange person who ultimately causes a great search for a potential ally... a long-lost Jedi Knight. Set after Hera's Heroes. My first fanfic
1. Chapter 1

Star Wars Rebels: Starstone

Chapter one

It was evening on Ryloth. All was quiet on the outskirts of the Tann province. Suddenly, there was a loud explosion as the Syndulla house went up in flames and the dreaded rebel ship flew off victoriously. After once again escaping Thrawn's clutches, the _Ghost_ landed in nearby plains of Ryloth.

Inside the rebel ship, Kanan Jarrus and Hera Syndulla exited the ship's galley with Hera's father. Cham raised an eyebrow when he saw Zeb carrying Ezra around the room by his head while Sabine and Chopper laughed.

"Put me down!" yelled Ezra. "That hurts!"

"Hmm, lemme think about that... _no_ ," said Zeb, narrowly avoiding a punch to the face. "Ha, how's our fearless Jedi doing now that he has a big scary Lasat after him?"

"Hera, tell him to _stop_!" whined Ezra. The Twi'lek captain ignored him. Chopper beeped and pinched his leg. "Ow!"

"Well, I have to be getting back to the base, Hera," said Cham.

"One thing, Father," said Hera. "Do you happen to have any spare fuel? The _Ghost_ is running low."

"Ah, yes. We stole a large shipment from the Empire a few days ago," replied Cham.

"Oh, good," said Hera. "We wouldn't want to have to raid an Imperial convoy halfway back to base. Last time we did that, we almost lost Chopper."

"Well, it will take awhile to get it her through the tunnel network," said Cham. "The Empire will have stepped up their patrols after the... _incident_...with the house."

"How long should that take?" asked Kanan. He knew they were getting tired and didn't want any of the younger rebels to be grumpy the next morning.

"A good while," said Cham thoughtfully. "You'll probably have to stay overnight. I can send one of my men to get it here in the morning. They shouldn't have too much of a problem with patrols then." But even as Hera and Kanan bid Cham goodbye, they were being watched.

* * *

The next morning, the _Ghost_ crew met in the common room as they ate breakfast. Hera and Kanan filled them in on the plan.

"Zeb and Sabine will rendezvous with one of my father's men at the nearest entrance to the tunnels," said Hera, pointing to a place on a holomap in the outskirts of the city. "You should get the fuel shipment and be back here around 1000. Kanan and I will meet with my father to discuss the attack on Lothal. "

"What about me?" asked Ezra.

"You and Chopper get to stay with the ship," said Kanan. "You need to catch up on your meditation."

"But—"

"No buts, Ezra," said Hera. "Someone needs to stay with my ship, and Chopper isn't always what you'd call responsible."

"Neither is Ezra," said Sabine.

"But—"

"What if Thrawn located our ship" asked Kanan. "We need you here."

"But—"

"No buts Ezra."

"Yeah," said Zeb. "Everyone know Loth-rats have no butts!"

Soon after, Sabine and Zeb set out to get the fuel shipment.

"Hmm, not many people around," said Sabine, scanning the area for life forms as they walked. The few people they _did_ pass gave them some funny looks.

"I wish they would stop staring at us," muttered Sabine uncomfortably.

"Well, we are a bit conspicuous," said Zeb. "It's not every day when a Lasat and a neon Mandalorian go walking down the streets of Ryloth, hee hee!"

"I prefer _colorful_ , not neon, thank you very much," sniffed the graffiti artist.

They were halfway to the tunnel entrance when Sabine spotted a patrol of six stormtroopers.

"Quick, hide!" she said, sliding into an alley. Zeb wasn't so quick and the stormtroopers saw him.

"You there! Halt!" commanded the leading stormtrooper.

"Why do they always say that?" Zeb asked himself. "It's not like anyone actually stops!"

"What are you doing?" asked the stormtrooper.

"I'm walking down a street, what does it look like?" replied Zeb. "Is that OK?"

"Uhh…" said the stormtrooper intelligently. "No! You're…a La-sock! The Empire wants you all…captured!" He pointed his blaster. "You're under arrest!"

"And you're under a crate!" yelled Zeb, lifting one up and hurling it at the head stormtrooper. He unslung his bo-rifle and started shooting at the ones that remained standing. Sabine joined him with her two blaster pistols. Soon, the patrol was down to one.

"We need reinforcements! We're under attack by a La-sock and a neon dude!" the stormtrooper screamed as Sabine blasted him.

"It's Lasat, not La-sock, buckethead!" laughed Zeb as they ran off.

"And _don't call me a neon dude!_ " yelled Sabine indignantly. They turned a corner. Sabine checked their map. "We're almost there," she told Zeb. They were about to cross a street when they heard a voice behind them.

"You there! Freeze!"

Reinforcements had arrived.

* * *

Back at the _Ghost,_ Hera and Kanan were departing in the _Phantom_.

"No!" Ezra protested. "Don't leave me!"

"Bye, Ezra," said Hera. "Make sure you behave."

"No!" Ezra yelled. "Nonononono, you can't do this!"

"Don't forget to meditate!" called Kanan.

" _What?_ Guys! Come on, _please!_ "

"And take care of my ship!" said Hera. "You too, Chop." The droid beeped in reply.

" _What did I ever do to you!_ " wailed Ezra. " _I will burn in eternal torment!"_

"It's not eternal, Ezra," said Kanan. "We'll be back before you know it." The _Phantom_ flew off. Ezra and Chopper watched it until it disappeared in the distance. Ezra sighed. "Why do I always get the boring jobs?"

Chopper beeped something in binary.

"No, Chop! It's not because I'm useless!" yelled Ezra.

The droid beeped again.

"Yeah, whatever, you bucket of bolts," Ezra sighed. "I'm gonna take a nap."

More angry binary.

"Just because Kanan said I need to meditate doesn't mean I have to do it _now_!" Ezra scowled at the annoying droid, who gave an indignant reply.

"No, you are _not_ in charge of me!" yelled Ezra. "Even Hera said you aren't responsible." Chopper smacked the Padawan's leg with one of his manipulatives.

"Ow!" cried Ezra, holding up his hands in surrender. "OK, OK, I'm just getting a snack. Then I'll meditate!" Chopper beeped triumphantly.

Ezra sighed as he bit into a ripe Jogan fruit. "This is going to be a lot worse than I thought."

* * *

Hera landed the _Phantom_ near their rendezvous point with her father. She and Kanan walked the rest of the way to the crowded cantina where they planned to meet Cham.

"Well, this is...interesting," commented Kanan as they walked into the cantina. Almost every being inside was a Twi'lek, and all conversations were being spoken in Ryl, so it was relatively quiet for a bar of this size. Also, Kanan could understand none of what any of the Twi'leks were saying.

"Let's find a seat," said Hera. "My father should be here soon." They selected a table away from most of the crowd, where it was still loud enough to avoid being overheard, hopefully. The rebels also made sure they were near a door in case they needed to make a quick exit. It never hurt to be overly cautious in case something went wrong. And with the rebels, something _always_ went wrong.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

Sabine and Zeb were in trouble. The stormtrooper patrol had managed to call for reinforcements and now they were facing a squad that outnumbered them one to six.

Zeb blasted a stormtrooper with his bo-rifle, then picked up another crate and hurled it at some troopers, knocking them over like angry bowling pins.

Sabine jumped behind some crates so she would be protected from enemy fire and picked the stormtroopers off one by one. In a few seconds, she had killed four and wounded another.

In the space of about thirty seconds, the two spectres had diminished the patrol of twelve stormtroopers down to three. Then, things started to go wrong.

"They're rebels!" one of the remaining stormtroopers screamed before Zeb could blast him. "Rebels!" So just as Sabine finished off the patrol, they were ambushed by another squad of stormtroopers... and an AT-ST.

* * *

Ezra was meditating. After he had finished his Jogan fruit, Chopper had practically dragged him into his room and started beeping rapid-fire binary insults. Finally, the droid got bored and left—after about ten minutes. That annoying trash can had no idea how distracting he could be, but that was probably a good thing in the long run. Now that he was alone, Ezra could sense Kanan and Hera in the cantina. He could feel his master's impatience as they waited for Hera's father to arrive.

He reached out with the Force. He could sense Kanan's familiar Force signature, as well as Hera's bright one. He could even sense Cham, whose Force signature was similar to Hera's, although it was muted and somewhat less vivacious. Ezra frowned. Something was wrong. A cloud of darkness hung over Hera's father. He was in danger...there was a Zabrak with a Force signature full of the Dark Side, and he was trailing Cham. Ezra's heart beat faster. This mysterious figure would follow Cham right to Hera and Kanan! They would be unprepared for an attack by a Force wielder. He was about to contact Kanan through the Force when he sensed another glimpse of danger. Sabine and Zeb! He quickly turned his thoughts their way.

Sabine and Zeb were surrounded by a patrol of stormtroopers backed by an AT-ST walker. Ezra could tell from Zeb's Force signature and the Mandalorian's colorful one that they were blasting troopers left and right, but they were outnumbered and forced to hide behind cover. What had gone wrong?

Ezra opened his eyes, ready to go help his friends, but he still saw them in battle around him. Slowly, the chaos shifted until he was looking at a tranquil field in the plains of Ryloth. Ezra realized he was having a vision. Just then, he felt an overwhelming surge of danger. The Dark Side was strong. His vision darkened until everything was black. He swayed on his feet. Just when he thought he was going to pass out from the overwhelming fear and hatred radiating around him, there was a soft light glowing beside him. Dim at first, but then it grew brighter and brighter until it lit up the scenery around him. He was still in the peaceful rock grassland. He couldn't see the person within the glow, but whoever it was had a strong powerful Force signature. It flickered uncertainly at times, but it was bright, glowing with curiosity and excitement. This person was strong with the Force.

Slowly, the vision faded, and Ezra found himself back in the cabin he shared with Zeb. Chopper rolled into the room, beeping urgently.

"Chopper!" exclaimed Ezra. "The others! They're in danger! We have to save them!" He grabbed his lightsaber and started for the door. The droid stood in his way. "Come on, Chop! Don't you care?"

Chopper flailed his arms. "Wap da wap!" he beeped. "Wap da wap!"

Ezra frowned. "A message?"

"Wrr bop wa wap," replied the droid.

"Yeah, I don't care if Hera commed you and said to stay with the ship no matter what," growled Ezra. "Our friends are in danger; we can't just abandon them!" But even as he said this, logic told him that if the Empire was closing in on his friends, they would soon be closing in on the ship. If they discovered it while he was gone, they would be without a way off the planet—and Hera would skin him alive. Even worse, she would let Zeb trap him in the ventilation shafts and give Sabine permission to paint his hair and his bunk—if they even got the ship back.

Ezra sighed. His friends were out there somewhere, their lives in danger. Yet the only thing to do—the only _right_ thing to do—was to sit here, safely out of harm's way. "Fine, Chop. We'll stay here, but it doesn't mean I have to like it."

* * *

Kanan and Hera were waiting in the cantina, and Kanan was getting bored.

"When is he gonna get here?" asked Kanan for the eleventy-millionth time.

"For goodness sakes, Kanan!" cried Hera, exasperated. "You sound like a little kid! Aren't Jedi supposed to always be patient?"

"No!" said Kanan. "Well, actually, yes. But right now, I'm an _impatient_ Jedi. You can get over it."

"Is that the way you talk to your captain?" teased Hera.

"Sorry, ma'am," said Kanan. He closed his eyes and tried to be patient. Perhaps the fact that he was only _trying_ was the reason he didn't sense the danger of the dark side assassin following Hera's father.

* * *

The fight with the Imperials was going badly. Sabine and Zeb had been outnumbered and forced to retreat down an alley and hide behind some crates for cover.

"There's too many of them!" yelled Zeb. "Do you have any miracles on you?"

"Yeah, just a few, answered the explosives expert as she picked off another stormtrooper, only for two others to step in his place. "I was planning on saving the in case we got in a _really_ bad situation."

"Well," said Zeb, flinching as the AT-ST walker pounded the crates they were behind, "I think this counts as 'a really bad situation'!"

"'kay, here goes!" said Sabine as she jumped up and threw a bomb across the alley at a large cluster of troopers. She pressed the detonator. BOOM! The explosion killed about half the group, reducing their numbers by about ten troopers. It didn't make much of a difference, however, as the Empire had plenty of others that came rushing up and soon there were more troopers than ever.

"You know what, I think this exceeds the title of 'a really bad situation'!" said Zeb. "Spectre Four to _Ghost_! Spectre Four to _Ghost_!" he yelled into his comlink. "Argh, they're jamming us!"

"This is why I hate jam on my toast! It reminds me of _these_ situations!" said Sabine.

"Yeah, peanut butter is _so_ much better than jam," agreed one of the stormtroopers as he shot at Zeb's head, once again missing by about three yards.

Zeb laughed and switched his weapon from bo-rifle to bo-staff and smacked the troopers upside the head. He proceeded to push forward and make a gap. Sabine stayed behind the crates, throwing the occasional bomb and picking off stormtroopers left and right.

"You rebel scum!" yelled a stormtrooper. Sabine shot him in the head.

Just then the AT-ST shot another blast at the crates where Sabine was taking cover. They finally gave way and collapsed on top of her.

"Zeb!" she cried, pinned down by the crates. She threw her last bomb and shot her blasters frantically. "I'm being overrun!"

"Sorry Spectre Five, I can't get to you now," yelled Zeb. He had charged forward at the mass of stormtroopers, which had worked well at first, but then the stormtroopers closed in behind him. He was surrounded.

Seeing that Sabine was trapped underneath the crated, the stormtroopers surged towards her. Although she managed to shoot down about half of them, the others kept coming. "I have a bad feeling about this."

Suddenly, the stormtroopers began to fall, cut down by an unseen attacker. "It's those rogues again!" shouted one of the troopers as he fell. The AT-ST toppled over and crushed a mass of stormtroopers. Zeb saw a flash of green as the person took down the stormtroopers behind him. With the troopers gone off his back, Zeb was able to take care of those in front of him.

"A little help here?" cried Sabine, still stuck under the crates. A large brown shape leapt into the air and bowled into Sabine, sending the crates flying.

"What—AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" screamed the Mandalorian in a very un-Mando-like manner. There was an enormous, brown, shaggy dog standing above her.

"RUGH!" barked the dog. Sabine flinched. "Don't eat me...please?"

"RUGH!" the dog barked again, and took off running down the street after a small figure in a dark green cloak. The two leapt onto the roof of a building and were gone.

"Well, that was interesting," remarked Zeb. Sabine climbed shakily out of the crate debris.

"Interesting yourself, you're not the one who got sat on by a giant hairy carpet," grumbled Sabine.

"First of all, it didn't sit on you, it stood over you," said Zeb as they walked down the streets. "Second of all, it wasn't a carpet; it was a dog."

"Yeah, whatever," said Sabine. "I'm still not going to be able to hear anything after that _thing_ bellowed in my ears."

"You can hear _me_ ," said Zeb. "And it didn't bellow, it barked."

"I don't care, Zeb!"

"You should be more grateful. Whoever that was and however large and loud their dog was, they certainly saved us back there." They looked up at the hidden tunnel entrance.

"C'mon, the fuel should be just inside."

* * *

Author's note:

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please comment! I will try- wait, do or do not there is no try- to update again this week, but maybe not because softball season is in full swing and we have standardized testing this week (I have a bad feeling about this).

This chapter was written in memory of my dog, Boomer, whose picture is now my profile picture. Today would have been his twelfth birthday. I miss you Boomer!

By the way, people happy late Resurrection Day and May the Force Be with you!

Thank you for your reviews, I can always use the feedback considering that the only person who reads over it for me is my little sister. I could use some expert opinions.

RebelStarbirdPadawan


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three

"He's here!" announced Kanan. "Finally! I wonder what took him so long?"

"We'll find out soon," said Hera calmly. She rolled her eyes at Kanan. The Jedi tended to get way too excited in these situations.

Cham Syndulla walked up to their table. "Hello, Hera. Greetings, Master Jedi," he said politely.

"Father, don't go _announcing_ it," sighed Hera. "The Empire doesn't need any help finding him, believe me."

"Please, call me Kanan," said the Jedi.

Hera's father glanced at the front door. "We should be closer to the entrance in case we need to make a run for it," he said disapprovingly. "You can't even see it from here! What if there's an ambush?"

"We can always leave through the back door," said Hera, nodding at the other entrance, which was in plain sight. "And if there's an ambush, it's more likely to come from there."

"Perhaps," sniffed Cham. "In any case, you aren't likely to be found here. It took me a while to find you, and I knew you were here."

Just then the back door opened. "Greetings, rebels," said a voice. "How I will enjoy killing you!"

* * *

Like his master, Ezra could be really impatient.

"I don't like to be just sitting here, doing nothing!" said Ezra to himself. "I feel like I should be helping!" He was surprised when he heard some binary beeping behind him. He was even more surprised when he heard what the droid was saying.

"You... _agree_?" gasped Ezra. "Chop, are you low on battery?"

Chopper beeped a negative.

Ezra sighed. "Well, there's nothing we could do anyways." After a moment's thought, he added, "Wow. I can't believe we actually agreed on something!" The droid chose that moment to smack him. "Ow!"

Chopper led the way up to the cockpit. "Well, what are we going to do?" asked Ezra.

"Bee bo bo wrr bop," beeped Chopper. He stuck one of his droid arms in a socket and started powering up some systems.

"Good idea, Chop… except that I don't know _how_ to get the _Ghost_ ready in case we need to make a quick getaway," said Ezra.

"Wap da wap," said Chopper.

"Yes, I know you can do it yourself, and _no I am not an idiot!_ " yelled Ezra.

"Wa wa beep wa."

"That's great, I'm bored."

"Ba wrr wa?"

"No, Chop, I can't sense them coming."

"Wop."

"How's the _Ghost_ starting up?"

"Wa da beep wrr wa!"

"Okay, okay! I didn't mean to offend Your Highness...I mean Your _Lowness_!"

"Beep wrr wa!"

"Yes, I am calling you short."

"Wa wa wop."

"You are too."  
"Wa wa wop!"

"Are too!"

"Wa wop!"

"Are too!"

" _Wa wop!_ "

" _Are too!_ "

"Wra rra waah beep!"

"No, I didn't just call you an R2 unit...You're not _that_ smart."

"Wrra!" They continued arguing like that for a while. Ezra finally gave up and sat in the co-pilot's chair, spinning around.

Just then, he saw a flash of green off to his left. He stopped spinning and stared. Nothing. That was odd. He watched for a few seconds, then saw a brown blur to his right.

"Did you see that, Chopper?" he asked the droid.

Chopper shook his head and beeped.

"No, I don't think it was the wind." replied Ezra. Suddenly, there was a large shadow over the cockpit. All Ezra would see was a big, brown blob and a large, shaggy paw pressing against the cockpit window. "It's definitely not the wind!" cried Ezra. "The wind doesn't have feet!"

"Bop da wop! Bop da wop!" screeched Chopper, spinning around in circles and flailing his mechanical arms. "Bop da wop!"

"Don't worry, Chop," said Ezra, although he was a bit scared himself. "I'll go check it out."

* * *

Back at the entrance to the tunnel system, Sabine and Zeb were picking up their fuel shipment from one of Cham's men.

"We made it in one piece," said Sabine, "but where's the fuel?"

"I guess it could be a little deeper...or the guy could be late," said Zeb.

"I don't think so, we're pretty late ourselves," said Sabine. "It's 954. We have six minutes to get the fuel and get back or Hera will skin us alive."

"I can't die, I'm the last of my kind!" wailed Zeb.

"Or maybe she'll just let me paint your bunk…" said Sabine, grinning.

"Oh, nonononono, that would be worse!" said Zeb. "We _have_ to hurry!"

Sabine laughed. "Let's go in a little farther." They walked forward until the tunnel came to a fork.

"Where do we go now?" asked Zeb.

Sabine pulled down her helmet scanner. "There it is, just down that way," she said. "Hmm…"

"What?" asked Zeb.

"Nothing," said Sabine. "I was just thinking how it was odd that there aren't any life forms coming up on my scanner." They walked down the left tunnel.

After a while, they came across the fuel canisters. There were three of them, along with a box of rations.

"Well, here's the stuff," said Zeb, "but where's the guy?"

Sabine gasped "Over here!" They went around another turn and found the dead body of a Twi'lek rebel. "Oh, no."

The Twi'lek had been cut in half vertically. There was no blood as the wound had been cauterized. And the only weapon that cut like that was a lightsaber.

* * *

Ezra climbed up the ladder to the roof hatch. He carefully made his cay across the exterior of the _Ghost_ until he was almost above the cockpit. He crept up slowly and peered out from behind the upper cannon turret. He was surprised at what he saw.

There was a small figure wearing a dark green cloak on the roof of the cockpit. When he looked closer, he realized it was one of the locals; he could see small green lekku on the figure's head. There was something familiar, about the person, but he couldn't place it. On the other side of the cockpit sat a large animal. It was brown and shaggy and wore a vest that appeared to be covered in armor. The Twi'lek person was studying some electronics on the _Ghost_ and hadn't noticed his approach.

The creature, however, must have smelled him, because Ezra hadn't made any noise. It made a loud animal noise of alarm and the two strangers ran off. He saw them hop on a small speeder, which looked as it was crafted from old spare parts. They sped off into the distance.

"Well, that was odd," Ezra said to himself. He went to area they had been looking and checked it for damage, then went back to tell Chopper.

* * *

Sabine and Zeb stared at the dead Twi'lek.

"Who could've done this?" asked Sabine. "The Empire doesn't sent Inquisitors after a rebel cell unless they have a Force sensitive."

"Maybe they have a Force sensitive."

"Or they could have been tracking us."

"We can't just leave him here," said Zeb. Just then, a patrol of Twi'lek rebels turned the corner.

"I, uh…" said Sabine, because there isn't really a good way to say "your comrade got murdered by a lightsaber wielder" when your rebel cell is in possession of two of the few on the planet.

"Roki was late for check-in," said one of the rebels. "Have you seen him?"

"He was killed by someone, an Inquisitor, we think," said Zeb. "He was like this when we found him. We just got here."

The Twi'leks overcame their shock fairly quickly. "There has been a mysterious Imperial snooping around lately," said one of them. "We thought it might be as much."

"We're sorry for your loss," said Sabine. The rebels looked at the two Spectres, confirming they didn't have lightsabers.

"We'll get him back to the base," said the Twi'lek. "Good luck in your fight with the Empire."

"Thank you for your help," said Zeb. "May the Force be with you."


End file.
